


A Study in Fairness

by Skypan



Category: Flight 29 Down
Genre: But its not super romancey, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Its mentioned and is not graphic at all, Past Rape/Non-con, but just so you know, definitely MJ in intention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25751830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skypan/pseuds/Skypan
Summary: Set after the big stormJackson stayed, but he still feels weird now that everyone has seen his tape. Will Melissa be able to make him feel better?
Comments: 8
Kudos: 5





	A Study in Fairness

“Hey.”

Jackson looks up from where he’s gathering firewood to see Melissa. “Hey.”

Melissa shifts her weight nervously for a minute.

“What?” Jackson snaps, making her flinch. He regrets it instantly, but he’s been uptight ever since everyone saw his tape. Since he told her his secrets. The storm certainly didn’t help.

They said its forgotten, that none of it matters… But he can feel their eyes following him sometimes. He knows everyone is watching him.

“I guess I just wanted to see how you were doing,” Mel says quietly, looking down at her shoes.

“I’m fine, Mel,” he sighs.

“No you’re not,” she replies.

“If you already knew, why did you ask?” he asks, continuing his work. He has a soft spot for Mel, but he’s not feeling particularly charitable today.

“Jackson…”

“What? What can you possibly say to make this better? Everyone here knows the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, and the worst thing I’ve ever done. None of you will ever look at me as anything other than a criminal.”

“That’s not true!” Melissa protests. “I don’t think you’re a criminal.”

“Really?” He asks, turning to give her a hard stare. She meets his gaze unwaveringly. “Maybe you should.”

He turns away again, keeps walking, until Melissa hurries around and steps right in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. He raises an eyebrow at her.

“When I was twelve, I mentored a new girl at our school. She had just moved to town, and she didn’t know anyone,” she starts.

“Where is this going Mel?”

“Just let me finish!” She insists. “The other girls at school thought she was weird. She was new and an outsider and she talked about Star Trek a lot. If we’re being honest… They bullied her. Privately, I was friends with her. I like Star Trek too. But with everyone else…”

She sighs and turns, starting to walk away a bit, unable to look at him.

“I didn’t outright say anything mean, but I didn’t stop the other girls. They would write stuff on her books and make fun of her… Finally one day she tried to stand up for herself.”

Jackson caught up with her, walking beside her now.

“Someone said “no one even likes you here” and she said “Melissa does. We talk about Star Trek and books and everything!” Which was true. But one of the others looked at me and said “is that true Mel? Are you a loser too?”

“So what did you say?” Jackson asked. Mel sighed.

“I said “of course not, I don’t like any of that freak stuff.” The other girls just… Tore her down. She was crying by the end. I couldn’t watch, so I left… She transferred schools after that.”

They went silent for a second as Jackson processed this story.

“Okay so… Why are you telling me this?”

“You feel like we see you differently because we know the worst thing you’ve ever done, and the worst thing that ever happened to you. If I tell you mine, then it will put us on even ground again,” Melissa explained.

“I don’t know if that will work,” Jackson huffed.

“Oh really? So you don’t think differently of me now that you know I’m a bully?”

“I would hardly call you a bully, Mel,” Jackson laughed. “You were twelve, and sure you didn’t make the best decision, but one incident doesn’t make you a bully.”

“But I did bully her, and I lied, and I was a bystander and just watched her get bullied a bunch of other times. I was two faced and mean,” Melissa points out.

“I guess some of that is true, but you’ve always been kind to me, and I doubt you would do that today,” Jackson shrugged.

“Exactly. And I don’t think its your fault you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or that you made some mistakes in your past,” Melissa said. “Especially given the circumstances.”

Jackson sighed. “Okay, I see where you’re coming from, and I appreciate it, but-“

“The worst thing that ever happened to me,” Mel cut him off. “Happened last year.”

“Worse than being stuck on this island?” Jackson tried to joke.

Mel swallowed thickly and nodded. “Worse than this.”

They continued walking in silence for a minute. 

“Mel, you don’t have to do this-“

“No, its okay,” She said. “I want you to know that I trust you, and I want you to feel comfortable around me again. I know I can’t control the others, but at least we can be back to normal. Hopefully…”

She took a deep breath and stuck her hands in her hoodie pockets, making herself smaller by hunching her shoulders.

“So normally I wouldn’t have been able to go on this trip,” she states, seemingly off topic.

“You wouldn’t?”

“No, my parents let me have a certain amount of money for some sort of trip every year. For years I’ve gone to summer camp, but I asked to use the funds for this trip instead. I… I can’t go back to summer camp.” She explains.

“Oh really? What’d you do, start a food fight? Short sheet someone’s bed? Steal a canoe?” Jackson quips.

“No, just- Let me get this out, okay?” Melissa asks, and its so vulnerable that Jackson shuts his mouth and just listens.

“I was a counselor last year. I was really proud of that, because they let me skip over being a counselor in training, so I was the youngest. I loved being a counselor, taking care of all my kids and helping plan the activities… But then one day the camp director asked to see me after hours in his office. I figured it was just to talk about the schedule, or me helping with the talent show or something…”

Jackson feels his heart sink into his stomach. He has a bad feeling that he knows what’s coming.

“He attacked me,” she says shortly.

“Attacked you how?” He asks, because he needs to know before he decides to add murder to his rap sheet.

“He… Well, he made me do some things I didn’t want to do,” She says, making herself as small as possible. There are tears in her eyes. “But I couldn’t go back to camp after… After that.”

“Mel,” Jackson stops, touching her arm lightly to get her to stop. “Did you report him? Did you tell your parents?”

“No, no, I couldn’t do that,” She shakes her head, looking at her shoes. “I didn’t have proof, and everyone loved him. Plus it was my fault…”

“How is that your fault?!” Jackson snaps. “You were, what, fifteen and some grown man decides to-“

“I should have fought back more,” she said. “I should have known not to go alone. I was stupid, and I paid for it. They tell us all this stuff, and I just ignored it-“

“You should be able to trust someone who is supposed to take care of a whole camp of kids-“

“And I was dressed wrong, my shirt was low cut and I was wearing makeup. Plus I didn’t want anyone to think I was a slut-“

“Mel!” Jackson stops her, dropping the firewood next to them so he can put his hands on her shoulders. She finally looks up at him. “It was not your fault. There is no universe in which that was your fault. I’m so sorry that happened to you, and I really wish I could kick that guys teeth in.”

She laughs wetly, wiping away tears.

“So, you don’t think I’m a slut?”

“No,” he says firmly.

“And you don’t think of me any differently?”

“No- well,” he starts, then stops with a scoff. He tries again. “Its not that I don’t think of you any differently, because now I know you’ve been through that. You’re stronger and braver than I knew before. So I guess I think of you differently, but its not bad.”

He _needs_ her to know that he would never judge her, especially for going through something like that.

“And that’s how I feel about you,” she says, making him pause. “You’ve been through a lot of bad things, and you made it out. And you’re still a good, hard working, kind person after all of it. Knowing your secret doesn’t change anything for me.”

He doesn’t know what to say. He really thought there wasn’t any way in the world that anyone could make him feel better, but once again this girl – this wonderful girl – she surprises him.

Quickly, he reaches out and pulls her into a hug, which she returns immediately. He rests his head on hers, just breathing for a moment. He can’t remember the last time someone made him feel so cared for.

A second later, he remembers.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have just grabbed you like that,” He says regretfully. He starts to pull back but she tightens her arms around his waist.

“Its okay. I trust you.”

“Yeah…” He says, and it’s the best he can do. He wants to say it back, but something stops him. He does trust her, more than probably anyone else he can think of right now, but to say it would be to make himself weak to her.

He is weak _for_ her, he knows it. But his damage won’t let him say any of that.

She seems to understand what he means though, so she just smiles and holds him close for a while longer.

Its not perfect, and he knows everyone else at camp probably still thinks worse of him now. But he has Melissa at least.

He can live with that.


End file.
